Last Panorama of the Spirit Rover on Mars

Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, NASA, JPL, Cornell; Image Processing: Kenneth Kremer, Marco Di Lorenzo


Explanation: This is the last thing that the Spirit rover on Mars ever saw. Operating years beyond original expectations, Spirit eventually got mired in martian dirt and then ran out of power when investigating the unusual Home Plate surface feature on Mars. Visible in the above panorama are numerous rocks and slopes of the surrounding Columbia Hills of Mars. The strange hill with the light colored top, visible near the top center of the image, has been dubbed von Braun and was a future destination when Spirit got bogged down. A leading hypothesis holds that von Braun is related to martian volcanism. Last week, NASA stopped trying to contact Spirit after numerous attempts. Half a world away, Spirit's sister rover Opportunity continues to roll toward Endeavour Crater, which could become the largest crater yet visited by an earthling-created robot.

Twinkle Twinkle so many stars ...

At Hatu peak there were many a stars but not twinkling, till horizon. Perfect nights, good seeing, dry, moderate wind & bearable temperature. We observed a peculiar phenomena at the heights of Hatu, Before sunset there would be few cumulus clouds around, threatening the night, kept us wondering if we should open the telescopes. We would look up after a while and the clouds would be gone completely and the entire sky would be clear. Then it would start dewing, soaking everything. Quite suddenly the dew would also disappear after an hour or so, never to appear back again for the entire night.

The second night at Hatu we clicked a 2.5 hour polar trail photo using a 8mm fish eye lens and a Canon 450D. The camera captured stars right till the horizon and the earthly lights in the valley below. The subs were combined into a trail using Images Plus software, and then we did something special, blended in a single photo from the middle of the trail showing the Milky Way ....

Ondine

First COOL Hive

a great inspiration from a great artist!

Chuck Norris

read bellow more info...

Another Icelandic eruption: Grimsvotn volcano

Barely a year after a similar eruption in Iceland forced the biggest closure of European airspace since World War II, the eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano, under the Vatnajokull glacier in southeast Iceland on May 21, 2011 has caused hundreds of travel delays. The ash cloud forced U.S. President Barack Obama to shorten a visit to Ireland and has raised some fears of a repeat of last year's huge travel disruptions across Europe when emissions from Eyjafjalljokull stranded millions of passengers. Although this disruption is said to be stronger than that of Eyiafjalljokull, it is not expected to have the same impact.
1. A plane flies past a smoke plume resulting from the eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano, under the Vatnajokull glacier in southeast Iceland, May 21, 2011. Airlines began canceling flights to Britain because of the ash cloud from the volcano reaching its airspace, although experts expected no repeat of travel chaos from the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull a year ago. (Olafur Sigurjonsson/Reuters)

greek yacht!

Terra Nine - No Return

AMAZING Chinese Hard Drive Scam!!!!

car trouble

The planet of the apes

A brief, interesting clip from National Geographic's "Ape Genius" documentary, demonstrating problem solving skills in chimpanzees, by using water as a flotation aid to retrieve a treat from a narrow tube.

This experiment was conducted at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany.

lisa gerrard - meltdown

Train accidents, crashes, collisions, near misses and rail idiots!

Narcosub: 'Drug Submarine' seized in Colombia

A narcotics trafficking submarine has been discovered by authorities in Colombia. It's believed the vessel is able to travel from Colombia to the coasts of Mexico. The submarine was found in a river in the state of Cauca, about 400 kilometres southwest of the capital Bogota. Authorities found weapons nearby, but said no one was arrested and no drugs were found when they made the discovery.

failed photos....

awesome grafities

how to throw away a car!

Fabian Perez

Kate Ryan - Desenchantee

cinematographs!!! (gif format... strikes back!!!)

A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera (the art and science of which is known as cinematography). The title is generally equivalent to director of photography (DP), used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image. The term cinematographer has been a point of contention for some time now; some professionals insist that it only applies when the director of photography and camera operator are the same person, although this is far from being uniformly the case. To most, cinematographer and director of photography are interchangeable terms. Sometimes, however, the term director of photography can refer to the person who supervises the photography in a videotaped television production. For example, Larry Boelens's credit on the Mikhail Baryshnikov Nutcracker was "director of photography", although the production was shot on video.^[1][2]

Dido - Everything To Lose

Models unclothed to support soldiers!

Whole world can envy to British soldier. What country can show off that models go into street because of them! They went out only in leggings, shoes and wedge and over naked breast had painted brassiere with military colors.

We must say they irradiated with this act. In streets of Manchaster, where was march, the life stopped on moment. Girls armed with moneyboxes collects from passerby support for British forces in foreign countries.

Artist Fanny Gogh with few of charity organizations organized this act. Their objective was signalizing on fact that soldiers need better equipment. And they want for collected money send pocket filled with coffee, tea and chocolate to soldiers in Afghanistan.

And what models said on it? Sarah Longbottom, one from models, said to daily Sun: “We want for our young men gain a bit of luxury. And if it means I must show my breast, I do it gladly!”

Nick: JirkaPraha, 15.10.2009 10:27:19

Mexico's drug war

Mass graves. Dismembered corpses. Entire towns besieged. Macabre visions grow in depravity as the drug war in Mexico drags on. Since President Felipe Calderon began using the army to contain the violence four years ago, rival gangs have escalated their turf battles over smuggling routes, and 35,000 lives have been lost, half of those in just the three northern states of Chihuahua, Tamaulipas and Sinaloa. The drug criminals have expanded their shadow by intimidating police forces, using kidnapping and extortion, trafficking migrants, and even pirating oil from Mexico's national oil company, Pemex. Of course, calling this issue "Mexico's drug war" is inadequate. Much of the drug product is destined for the United States, and by some estimates, over $20 billion flows south annually to pay for it. Guns made in the U.S. cross the border as well. The last 16 pictures in this entry were made by Nadav Neuhaus, who was gracious enough to share them with us. Neuhaus spent two years visiting Mexico documenting the drug war.
1. Students and activists gather during a protest against Mexico's drug violence in Mexico City February 17. (Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters)

Alizée - À Contre-courant

The Carnival Is Over

Flower power

The spring equinox was March 20 this year, determined by the changing sunlight and how the earth is tilted and orbits the sun. But we don't need to look to the skies to know the seasons are turning. All we have to do is glance more earthbound to find flashes of color and bursts of life. Flowers are appearing in all kinds of places since the equino.

1. A daisy floats in a rain barrel on April 4 in Kaufbeuren, southern Germany. (Karl Josef Hildenbrand/AFP/Getty Images)

great photos 5657 - 60 fantastic photos

Insane Downhill Bike Race In Chile valparaiso polc 2011

The cursed (or not?) weather of England during a whole year!

During the period 30 Okt 2009 - 4 Feb 2011, I monitored the barometric maps of England, to estimate how cursed is the weather there. 33 maps! The period covers over a year, 4 seasons, to be more accurate. Fact is, as you see at the maps bellow, the humidity of the Atlantic ocean come to the cold area of northern England and the weather becomes like this. Cursed or not, umbrella is something important for English people.

William the prince... in the royal car (going for wedding)